Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis

Western culture has often misperceived the east and the way that their society functions. In Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, Satrapi uses graphic novels as a way to demonstrate to the western culture how the east has been misrepresented. The use of media helps to depict to the west how their views of the east may have been unfairly formed in the past. The media has only revealed limited knowledge that only shows partial perspectives because it is difficult to get perspectives of the minorities although they are the ones who hold the most truth. In other words the use of graphic novels and a child’s perspective give the west a new idea on how it is that society in the east functions. This style of writing brings the connection between the two vastly different ideologies closer together through the use of a relatable perspective. Having multiple perspectives of a foreign outlook helps the west to better understand the beliefs of the east and expose the misrepresentation that has been given by the media. It also is important to the way that the west understands that the media has wrongly perceived the ideas of the east and how they can change it.

By using the style of a graphic novel it clearly shows the reader what she went through as a child and how she remembers it. Graphic novels remove the need for any questions on the way that the scenario may have looked; it gives the reader an unbiased opinion of a child who experienced it first hand. This idea of making the “hidden visible” shows that Satrapi is showing the west a new point of view that they may have been naive to before reading the novel (Chute 106). If it were up purely to the reader to come up with the photos in their mind it may be more bias due to the exposure of weste...

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...t was ignored by media. As media has such a large impact on westerner’s life it is important for the westerner to have the opportunity to form there own opinion of the east without interference. Satrapi uses graphic novels to show that the west had been misrepresented throughout media and allow them the opportunity to reconsider this perspective.

Works Cited

Chute, Hillary. "The texture of retracing in Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis." WSQ: Women's Studies Quarterly, 36. 1 (2008): 92--110. Print.
Darda, Joseph. "Graphic Ethics: Theorizing the Face in Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis." College Literature, 40. 2 (2013): 31--51. Print.
Naghibi, Nima and Andrew O'malley. "Estranging the Familiar:" East" and" West" in Satrapi's Persepolis." ESC: English Studies in Canada, 1. 2 (2005): 223--247. Print.
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 2003. Print.